Italian officials cover up nude statues for visiting Iranian president

posted at 6:01 pm on January 26, 2016 by Jazz Shaw

Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, made some big news during his visit to Italy when he asked Pope Francis to pray for him. I don’t find this terribly surprising and, at least on this one occasion, I’ll take the Iranian spokesperson at his word. After all, the Pope asks people to pray for him all the time no matter what religion they follow. Fair enough. No doubt the Pope will pray for him.

But Rouhani had other business in Italy of a far more secular nature. He was meeting with officials in Rome to talk over various economic opportunities opening up for his nation now that Barack Obama and John Kerry have facilitated the lifting of sanctions. He apparently got quite the reception at one famous Italian location, and as Mashable reported this week, they went out of their way to make him feel comfortable. In fact, they covered up historic works of art which might offend him.

Sometimes diplomacy is simply the art of covering up, well, art.

Italian officials on Tuesday went to great lengths to make the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, as comfortable as possible on his visit to Rome, going so far as covering up nude statues at the city’s Capitoline Museum, where Rouhani met with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi…

Also out of respect for Rouhani, the Italians, known for their great wine, abstained from serving it during the leader’s trip, as they do for all visiting Muslim dignitaries, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.

Rouhani wasn’t there to proclaim his admiration for Christianity nor to talk about peace on Earth. With the sanctions lifted, Iran is looking to cash in as fast as possible. CNBC provides some of the details of the deals that have been struck before the ink was even dry on the closure of the nuclear deal.

In his first visit to Europe since his election in 2013, Rouhani and his 120-strong entourage of business leaders and ministers began their continental tour in Rome on Monday and are due to head off to France on Wednesday. Already multi billion-dollar deals worth up to 17 billion euros ($18.4 billion) have been signed, according to Italian officials quoted by Reuters.

Among the deals struck on Monday were a pipeline contract worth between $4 billion and $5 billion for oil services group Saipem, up to 5.7 billion euros in contracts for Italian steel firm Danieli and up to 4 billion euros of business for infrastructure firm Condotte d’Acqua, Reuters added.

The Iranian entourage will be in France later this week cutting similar deals and then on to who knows where. They’ve supposedly already set up the framework of a deal with Airbus to purchase more than 100 commercial aircraft. Other nations are in line with their hands out.

This was what plenty of conservatives predicted when this entire Iran nuclear deal was being fleshed out. Yes, they had a large amount of their seized assets freed up as ransom when they released our hostages, but that’s really just a drop in the bucket. The real windfall comes with the elimination of the international stigma which essentially made them pariahs on the world stage. Thanks to the efforts of the Obama administration, Iran will now be doing deals in the tens or hundreds of billions, even as they continue testing ballistic missiles, taking US sailors captive and sponsoring terrorism. This new infusion of money should go a long way toward those efforts.

Only historians will eventually know what this deal cost us, but the price tag is going to be astronomical.

This was what plenty of conservatives predicted when this entire Iran nuclear deal was being fleshed out. Yes, they had a large amount of their seized assets freed up as ransom when they released our hostages, but that’s really just a drop in the bucket. The real windfall comes with the elimination of the international stigma which essentially made them pariahs on the world stage. Thanks to the efforts of the Obama administration, Iran will now be doing deals in the tens or hundreds of billions, even as they continue testing ballistic missiles, taking US sailors captive and sponsoring terrorism. This new infusion of money should go a long way toward those efforts.

Gee if only making business deals with outsiders tended to give people a motive to stop fomenting terror and hatred….

As do you. If doing business with them will stifle their pro-terror tactics, because they will make money, they already were making lots of money. Think they’ll give up on a winning strategy? If it won’t, then we are funding terrorism. Well, Obola is.

As do you. If doing business with them will stifle their pro-terror tactics, because they will make money, they already were making lots of money. Think they’ll give up on a winning strategy? If it won’t, then we are funding terrorism. Well, Obola is.

WryTrvllr on January 26, 2016 at 6:30 PM

They were making money on oil sales sure. Now they’ll be making money on lots of deals, which dramatically widens the amount of people they do business with, and thus the number of potential deals that could be harmed by terrorism. It’s the same reason that europe basically gets along now after thousands of years of open warfare.

As for funding terrorism, that doesn’t really scare me. Terrorism is just a tactic, no more and no less legitimate than dropping bombs on people from altitude. People saying terrorism is not legitimate are no different than the redcoats complaining that the revolutionary forces in america wouldn’t meet them on terms that favored the british.

going so far as covering up nude statues at the city’s Capitoline Museum,

Anyone who has been to a museum in Italy will know that it would have been far easier to put a drop cloth over Rouhani and guide him past the offending bits- which are pretty much everywhere when your standards are in line with Islam. The destruction of these museums when the Muslims rule Europe will be a truly great loss.

Proof? How long have you been posting at HA? Proof doesn’t matter when there’s a disagreement. Sources are attacked as biased and dismissed, and polls/statistics are attacked as having bad methodology and dismissed, and direct quotes/videos are attacked as out of context and dismissed, but only if they disagree with what you already think. No minds are ever changed.

Now, the best we can hope for is a collaborative discussion on larger, more abstract ideals that can resolve amicably, and even result in some common ground. That and humor. These last two things make HA worth it.

The destruction of these museums when the Muslims rule Europe will be a truly great loss.

Happy Nomad on January 26, 2016 at 6:44 PM

I was just thinking about that last night.
It probably won’t be too hard to get the paintings and smaller stuff out of Europe, but the statuary and sculptures are another story.
A lot of beautiful history will soon be lost to the world.

Of course, I can see the Italians and the French engaging in shootouts to protect their art. I hope.

I guess you missed the reports of them destroying the Buddha Statues in Afghanistan, the destruction of ancient pre-mohamedean ruins and artifacts in Iraq and Syria, the destruction of museums in Egypt, and their published intent of destroying even the Sphinx and the pyramids, before el-Sisi saved the nation from the depredations of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Oh, and the Second Sack and Burning of the Library at Alexandria a few hundred years before you were running around Aztlan demanding the sacrifice of infants to gain your favor.

I guess you missed the reports of them destroying the Buddha Statues in Afghanistan, the destruction of ancient pre-mohamedean ruins and artifacts in Iraq and Syria, the destruction of museums in Egypt, and their published intent of destroying even the Sphinx and the pyramids, before el-Sisi saved the nation from the depredations of the Muslim Brotherhood.

LegendHasIt on January 26, 2016 at 7:40 PM

No but I missed the credible reports where muslims were just about to take over europe. I can’t imagine how those snuck past me!

Assimilation? Tolerance? Education? Civility? None of these apply to that scum terrorist the stupid, arrogant, multicultural, Europeans are bowing to…… Europe is dead. We saved it and rebuilt it for them, and now they are destroying it. Liberalism burnt the Roman empire to ashes, Europe is next, and God forbid, unless we get rid of rampant progressive liberalism, we will be next. I hope the Europeans are boning up on the koran……. they are going to need it. We are not able to rescue them for a second time.

The price will be enormous; dare I posit “a critical mass”. It will cost Israel it’s existence and quite possibly The House of Saud. The Persians are aiming for regional hegemony and the bamster and johnny long face helped them out. This will cost American lives as well; the number yet to be determined.

It will cost Israel it’s existence and quite possibly The House of Saud. The Persians are aiming for regional hegemony and the bamster and johnny long face helped them out. This will cost American lives as well; the number yet to be determined.

phadras on January 26, 2016 at 8:17 PM

We’d be far better off being allies of the Iranians than the Israelis. Iranians have always been polite enough to stab us in the front.